Parable of the Sower

A Graphic Novel Adaptation

paperback, 272 pages

Published July 6, 2021 by Abrams ComicArts.

ISBN:
978-1-4197-5405-0
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4 stars (36 reviews)

In 2025, with the world descending into madness and anarchy, one woman begins a fateful journey toward a better future.

Lauren Olamina and her family live in one of the only safe neighborhoods remaining on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Behind the walls of their defended enclave, Lauren’s father, a preacher, and a handful of other citizens try to salvage what remains of a culture that has been destroyed by drugs, disease, war, and chronic water shortages. While her father tries to lead people on the righteous path, Lauren struggles with hyperempathy, a condition that makes her extraordinarily sensitive to the pain of others.

When fire destroys their compound, Lauren’s family is killed and she is forced out into a world that is fraught with danger. With a handful of other refugees, Lauren must make her way north to safety, along the way conceiving a revolutionary idea that may mean …

13 editions

Review of 'Parable of the Sower' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

On a second read, I feel a lot differently than I did the first time around. I can't separate uncomfortable feelings of reading about a teenager basically starting a cult and attracting people who are at their absolute most vulnerable to join. It doesn't sit well with me to read about Lauren's glee to "raise babies in Earthseed." And the intense, intense, dehumanization and otherizing of people using drugs, making them into physically unrecognizable monsters, is something I can't get past. If Lauren has hyper-empathy, and is more sensitive to people in need of help, then why does the buck stop with people using drugs?

Review of "Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the sower" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Comparing the art to the Kindred adaption, obviously the artist is the same, but I didn't find it quiet so overwhelming visually. My negative side wonders if this has to do with reading it frame by frame digitally, rather then parsing it page by page physically, but I don't know. My gut says it is a bit more parred down and more pleasing to my eye. Which is obviously super important - not. As the story does revolve around Lauren's religious speculation there is a lot of quotes and excerpts included alongside the art. As always, re-reads and digital comics are both a bit hard for me, but that is a me problem not a book problem. It's a super timely read not only for the actual timeline of the book being in the 2020s but also just because of how prescient it feels. This does fall into my appreciated …

Review of "Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the sower" on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

It's set in a post-collapse world, but as it goes along it shows us that there can be different degrees of post-apocalypse when it comes to individuals. The first third shows the main character in the context of her family trying to do everything they can to safeguard their home, and the remainder shows what happens as it ends up failing for them. What saves Lauren is her ability to think for herself and look beyond what was immediately in front of her, though it is abundantly clear that a lot of it is a matter of luck too. By the end, she has assembled a sort of replacement community from people who were once strangers, who all have come to accept her ideas on the reasons for human existence. It becomes a sort of picaresque novel by then as the group encounters different challenges walking the California freeways to …

Review of 'Parable of the Sower' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Not my most favourite Butler, but very solid. Reminds me a bit of Walking Dead, but the zombies are just people being people. Not quite so many people die though and I couldn't figure out if that felt more or less realistic lol.

The biggest drawback for me mostly came from the depiction of drugs. My feelings about how one should depict drugs is still very nebulous, so I'm not really sure about how they are depicted here but it did feel a tad bit regressive to me personally.

Since we all know that our heroine will end up on the outside sooner rather than later, I do feel like the opening could have been a bit more condensed.

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